Felt Like A Lifetime Interlude 1
by Ashley A
Summary: A glimpse into the past - a swim, and a conversation. ArthurLancelot.


Author: Ashley

Title: Felt Like A Lifetime Interlude 1

Rated: PG13

Pairing: A/L

Summary: A glimpse into the past. A swim, and a conversation.

Disclaimer: movie versions

Author's note: You don't have to have read the main story that this comes from to understand this, but it does provide some background to the men's relationship. I'm also not sure how early Christians started using Rosary beads, but they're in this for my plot benefit.

Feedback is welcomed.

Enjoy.

The beads clicked in his palms, and he breathed deeply of the myrrh scented air. Dawn was just breaking over the wall, and Arthur stood, his back aching, his knees weak and watery. He bowed to the small altar, turned, and walked out of doors, stopping to take in the morning sights of the garrison.

"Gah!" he yelled as Lancelot's hand snaked out, grabbing his rosary and examining it. "Can you not do that _every_ time," he sighed in exasperation. "Well, then you should be used to it by now," the other man smirked, and walked off into the dim early light, still carrying Arthur's beads.

Arthur followed him, his body still sore, eyes dry, lips numb from praying. Penance was a cheap cost to ensure the lives of his knights. He only hoped some peace came to them as well from his efforts.

Lancelot was speeding up, not looking to see if Arthur was following him. Arthur frowned, and increased his pace. "Where are you going?" he called. Lancelot merely threw a glance over his shoulder, winked, and kept walking out of the south gate, passing the cemetary and it's smoking hills.

His hand twirling Arthur's rosary beads, he began to whistle as he entered the small copse of trees that gathered their woody heads just below the rise that made up the graveyard. He could feel Arthur's eyes boring into his back. The other man never could hide any kind of feeling. He grinned to himself, and kept going until he reached his destination, which required a walk of ten minutes or so. Arthur was uncharacteristically distracted during the trip, so when Lancelot stopped, Arthur nearly broke the other man's foot when he trod on it.

"Great bloody Mithras, Arthur, how can you lead a group of calvary if you can't watch your own feet?" Lancelot grumbled, hopping about briefly, mostly for show. He looked up when Arthur didn't answer him.

Lancelot's mouth curled at the corners when he saw Arthur's expression. "Haven't been here in a while, hm?"

"No," was the older man's answer. A small smile was on his face, and Lancelot thought he looked quite beatific; considering Lancelot didn't follow Arthur's religion, that was saying something. He fiddled with the rosary beads again, and Arthur snapped out his reverie. "Why did you bring me here?"

"Because," Lancelot replied, sighing, tucking the beads into the chest pocket of his vest, "We have a day off. And I knew you would spend most of it in there," he jerked an angry thumb behind him, "so I decided to do something about it."

"I had forgotten this place, truthfully," Arthur said, his voice still possesing a dreamlike quality. Lancelot considered that a rare gift, and moved to stand beside his friend, a light hand resting on the other man's linen clad shoulder.

"Shall we?" he said, grinning cheekily, and moved away again, pulling off his boots, vest, tunic, and trousers, until he stood naked in the sunlight that was finally beginning to filter down through the trees. Arthur watched with hooded, deep green eyes, then burst out laughing as Lancelot gave a crazy yell, leaping into the assuredly chilly water of the small lake.

"Gods!" he shouted as he surfaced, his hair plastered to his forehead and cheeks. "C-come on in, Arthur, the w-water's great," he joked, "well, b-bracing, perhaps."

Arthur shook his head, and disrobed quickly, his skin prickling at the breeze that wafted over his bare skin.

Refraining from yelling, he dove neatly into the water, and promptly forgot how to breathe. "Bracing?" he almost screamed as his head popped back above the surface. "Freezing is more like it!"

Every hair stood up on his body, and he jumped up and down to try and warm himself. Lancelot took that as an opportunity to make yet more mischief, and sent a huge arc of water shooting out of his mouth, hitting Arthur directly in the face.

"Oh, you will so regret that," Arthur said, teeth chattering, and he plunged into the water, yanking on the other man's ankle roughly, pulling him under.

The rest of the morning was not spent in the pursuit of anything constructive.

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Arthur cracked one eyelid, then the other. "Stop. Dripping on me," he said quietly. Lancelot laughed, then sidled, bare-assed and drying, closer to Arthur, still managing to look graceful despite the pale winter skin and goosebumps.

He leant back on his elbows, and eyed the man next to him. "Feeling a bit more human, are we?" he murmured, cocking one arched brow. "Still need to pay for your sins?"

Arthur sat up, and wrapped his arms around his knees. He took in the forest, the budding trees, the singing birds, and the lapping water. "God is everywhere, Lancelot," he answered, "not just in a confined little house. It took you to make me realize that, whether you choose to like it or not."

Lancelot started to curse to himself, but held back when Arthur turned his head to gaze at him. The older man's shoulders weren't stiff, his posture was relaxed, his green eyes clear and calm for the first time in a long while. It was a wonderous sight. And if Arthur believed that his God was responsible for that, so be it. Lancelot knew when to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Arthur, come here," he asked, "I can't reach you all the way over there." Arthur laughed, a throaty, full sound that made Lancelot smile broadly. He shut his eyes and sighed contentedly when Arthur wrapped his larger frame around Lancelot's lean one.

They lay tangled in each other in silence, the heat of the rocks they rested on penetrating their skin and lulling their minds to mush.

"You're still giving me my rosary back," Arthur whispered drowsily.

Lancelot did curse then.

end.


End file.
